Do You Use USB for Streaming?

Thanks guys - I have the Schiit Bifrost - an excellent DAC for the price. I assumed they used the USB power for cost savings, since it's a very basic little DAC

Then a couple of months ago Schiit came out with a "Decrapifier" - yes that's its name. It provides a better power option for USB interfaces. I had to wonder if that was planned?

Even though it's only $100 - you need a second USB cable for that solution

This cable however minimizes cable requirements and electronics - something I like to do.

The performance of the power adapter surprised me though - something that affordable that actually works well.

I tried a few adapters and the Enercell worked the best

My DAC has never sounded so good :-)

Regards

Thanks Williewonka, I use a Audiophilleo2 with PurePower. I am thinking that the PurePower approach is analogous to what is described above excepting that the USB conversion is external to the DAC. Possibly I am missing something.

Mesch - you are correct - your approach is similar in principle to the cable + power adapter approach I identified - which is, fix the power issues and fix the data issues - then pass the good data to the DAC for conversion.

My Bifrost DAC takes care of the necessary reclocking - which I believe is also what the Audiophileo2 does.

The outcome of both is significantly higher quality audio.

Regards

Power over USB for digital circuits is just like all other digital loads. IT requires a very fast responding regulator. Batteries don't work very well for this, even LI. SMPS power supplies, at least the latest generation can respond very fast, but they also introduce noise due to the switching.

The optimum solution is a very fast linear regulator in a linear supply, like the Power Block. This supply is based on Hynes regulation technology, so it has the best regulator available. Extremely low noise and very fast regulation. No adapter cable needed.

Power supplies are the MOST IMPORTANT part of any audio system, whether for digital or analog sections. The Power Block is the best of these solutions. The others are just toys:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=128620.0

30-day money-back if you are not satisfied with the improvement, less shipping.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Steve N - I cannot agree more. Power is of prime importance.

However, not everybody on this forum wants, needs or can afford a Ferrarri - some people will settle for a VW.

But we all want to get past a GREMLIN :-)

For the younger readers - A Gremlin is a really old crappy car

Regards